Poem of Everyone's Soul
by YukiMizuno
Summary: An unofficial story for the "Project Crossover Books" by TrueSapphire. A month after their adventures with Mario, the three Ed's all wish to be heroes once again, with their goal being to solve a great mystery. After going to the new dimension, they then start to wonder if they were in another world at all, being that they were now in a current yet rural Japanese town called Inaba.
1. 1: Wishing for a Mystery

It was a cool, crisp autumn afternoon here in the little community of Peach Creek as we zoom in on a small neighborhood called the Peach Creek Cul-De-Sac. Inside one of the houses of the neighborhood, we could see two of the three Ed's sitting around Double D's kitchen table, presumably doing some kind of schoolwork for school.

"Urgh..." groaned Eddy as he stared at the sheet of paper in front of him, fiddling with the pen in his hand, "I still don't get this topic we picked for this stupid group essay."

"Well, I do admit the topic is a bit 'out there' compared to the other choices," Double D stated, his eyes focused completely on a big book in his hands, "But I think learning and researching about psychology and the human mind would be interesting; especially if it's about Jungian Psychology…"

"Yawn, boring!" Eddy muttered with a small groan once again, earning him a small glare from Double D when he looked up from his book.

It was when he glared at Eddy that Double D noticed something – or someone – that was out of place, "Say, where did Ed run off to?"

As if on cue, the two Ed's could hear the TV booming loudly from Double D's living room, "Does that answer your question, Sockhead?" Eddy questioned with sarcasm, rolling his eyes as he did.

Double D and Eddy soon abandoned the kitchen to go to the living room, only to see Ed sitting in a chair in front of the TV, hopping up and down on his bottom as he did. Apparently he was watching some kind of cartoonish and unrealistic chase scene on TV, presumably with cops and criminals.

"… Ed, what in the world are you watching?" Double D asked as he and Eddy came up to Ed to his right, "Do you not remember that we have a–"

"Oh, oh, oh! Double D, Eddy!" Ed stated loudly when he noticed his friends beside him; he also stopped his excessive bouncing in the chair he was sitting in, "I got an amazing idea!"

Double D only made a small sigh, "But Ed, we already have a set idea for our essay, remember?"

"… I don't think he was talking about the essay, Double D," Eddy stated to Double D.

"Yeah, I wanna go on another adventure now!" Ed stated with a wide smile on his face and puppy dog eyed look in his eyes, "Can we, Double D? Can we?!"

"Now wait just one moment," Double D started to say to Ed, "You have to remember that in order for any Crossover Books to appear, all three of us have common interests, wishes and themes for each of them."

"Oh, I know that Double D!" Ed replied back to him with a nod of his head, "I wanna go and solve mysteries!"

"You mean like a Sherlock or something?" Eddy questioned with his eyebrow raised with intrigue.

"Eddy, 'Sherlock' is not a type of profession," Double D started to explain with a sigh, "He's a fictional character who was a detective in many classic books and–"

"Yeah, a detective!" Ed interjected, "I wanna go and solve things like a detective and be a hero again!"

"Be a hero again, eh…?" Eddy mused a little, thinking about it for a moment.

"It's gonna be cool!" Ed cheered, "It's really been forever since the last adventure with Mario…"

"It's only been a month, Ed," Double D stated, "Though I do admit I am intrigued at the idea of solving mysteries; seems like a nice idea in helping out others as well."

"Plus we'll get rewarded when we solve the mysteries!" Eddy stated with his usual look of greed in his eyes, "I'd say we go for it!"

"Yay!" Ed cheered once again with a bigger smile on his face.

Double D sighed at their behavior, "Of course."

Suddenly, a white flash of light appeared behind the three Ed's. The three Ed's turned around to see a glowing, dark blue book floating in the air, landing gracefully on the coffee table behind them. The book itself looked as big as a college dictionary with how many pages were in it.

It was then that the title of the book flashed inside their minds, _**"Poem of Everyone's Soul…"**_ mused Double D, a bit surprised by the title of the upcoming story.

"Eww, poetry," Eddy muttered in response to the title.

"Now now Eddy, do not be disappointed by the title," Double D stated, "I'm sure the adventure in this story will be riveting and full of mystery like we wished for!"

Soon Double D grabbed the heavy book off of the coffee table; the book felt like it was covered in a type of velvet material. Double D opened up the book to the first page, only to see a very short prologue.

"_**Time never waits. It delivers us all equally to the same end."**_

"Well, that doesn't sound good at all," Eddy stated.

"Indeed it doesn't…" Double D agreed with a nod before continuing the paragraph.

"_**You five, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it maybe."**_

"You five…?" Ed muttered, "But there are only three Ed's here."

"I think the story is talking about the Vanguards for this story, Ed," Double D replied before finishing the rest of the prologue.

"_**The five of you will be given one year; go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide…"**_

Suddenly, there a flash of light on the bottom part of the page, revealing even more words, "Huh…?"

"What is it, Sockhead?" Eddy asked as he and Ed came over to see what had shown up on the page. It was another sentence, along with four blank lines.

"_**If you wish to proceed, please sign your name's here, for you have chosen your fates on your own free will."**_

"Wait, does this mean we have to sign some sort of contract?" Double D questioned with a bit of worry in his voice, "I'm not so sure if we should–"

"Oh come on, Double D!" Eddy started to say, "We've already decided to go ahead with this story!"

"I'm gonna sign my name as Light Yagami!" Ed stated as he grabbed a pen from underneath Double D's hat, who made an 'Eek!' sound at the sudden action.

"Ed, stop!" Double D yelped before Ed could write down the ridiculous name, "Just use your normal name, please."

"Aww…" Ed muttered with a small sniffle of sadness, "Okay," he replied as he then wrote down his name, _**"Ed McNeal."**_

"I'll go next," Eddy stated as he then grabbed the pen away from Ed and wrote down his name, _**"Eddy McGee."**_

"And now my turn," Double D sighed as he Eddy gave him the pen back to him for him to write his name, _**"Eddward Johnson."**_

It was after they wrote down their names that the fourth and fifth lines on the page started to fill themselves out; _**"Yu Narukami."**_ and _**"Jade."**_

"Are those the Vanguard's name?" Eddy asked as he looked towards Double D for an answer.

"You might be correct," Double D replied, "But we won't know for certain until we arrive to the new dimension."

"I can't wait!" Ed stated with glee in his voice.

The three Ed's could now feel a sudden wind around them; the book was sucking them in now. But this time, they were ready for the experience. The three Ed's jumped into the book, which then closed and sat back on the coffee table after doing so.

This was the start of reaching out for the truth.


	2. 2: April 9th, 2011 - Part 1

**? ?, ?**

The smell of a vivid, yet unknown fragrance was what made the three Ed's come to their senses after going through the portal. They could now feel where they were; sitting down on some kind of velvet-like material. Soon they could see where they were; they were inside a luxurious area that seemed to be going in a circular motion, like the cubby of a secured and gated Ferris wheel. The cubby was lined all over with azure blue velvet, similar to the book that brought them here. [*1]

Before the three of them could speak their minds on the matter, they heard a mysterious chuckle from across them, "I see our three guests have finally arrived."

The three Ed's soon looked over to see who was speaking; it was a mysterious old man in a dark gray suit, sitting in front of a small table with his hands locked together in front of his face a bit. He looked very old and weird, to say the least; with a bald head, a very long nose that even Pinocchio's lies could never grow to be, and a smile that was the definition of creepy. Basically, if you looked up the word 'creepy' and 'foreboding' in the dictionary, this guy would have a picture of himself right next to it. There was also a woman beside him, she looked to be in her mid to late 20's. She had very light, blond colored hair and wore a blue dress with a bit of black and a bit of yellow fringes here and there; black pantyhose covered her long legs, with black high heels at her feet. She also had a big book in her lap, which looked a bit like the Crossover Book that had appeared before them back in their world.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, a place between dream and reality; mind and matter," greeted the mysterious old man as he looked at them with his big, bulgy bloodshot eyes, "My name is Igor, and I will be the sentient in your new journey, as assigned by the higher being that I serve for, Master Philemon." [*2]

Igor then gestured towards the woman to his left, "This is Margret, my assistant; she will also help you three on your journey."

Margret only smiled and made one small nod of her head, "It is a pleasure to meet you three."

"I-It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Double D started to say before asking, "If you are the sentient, Igor, will you tell us what we must do for this world?"

"Indeed I shall," Igor stated, "But first, I wish to tell you three your fortunes."

"You can see the future?!" Ed gasped with excitement, "Will I be a Martian when I grow up?!"

"Ed, shut up," Eddy started to growl, "He said fortune, not future!" But then Eddy's eyes grew wide, dollar signs soon popped into them, "Wait, fortune?! We're gonna be rich soon?!"

Igor only chuckled at their antics, "Well, I cannot promise such a thing like that will happen…"

"Oh," Eddy huffed, crossing his arms across his chest, "Gettin' my hopes up for nothing…"

Soon Igor magically produced a few tarot cards in front of him, "Fate is never really set in stone for a long amount of time. There is always a way to change it, even if it seems impossible to do so. Please, remember this fact," he stated as he picked and flipped over two cards that he spread out onto his table.

He pulled out the Tower and Moon cards; both of the cards faced upwards, "According to the cards, a terrible event will happen within a few days, which will then lead you three towards the mystery that you wish to solve on your crossover journey," Igor then looked up at the three Ed's with his bloodshot eyes once more, "After you learn the full truth of why these events happened; that is when you will be able to go home to your world. All within a span of a year."

"I see, very intriguing," Double D mused aloud before remembering something, "So we will be in this world for a whole year, correct?"

"Correct, but certain things can happen that will end your journey for good before the year is up," Igor started to say, "You must not let that happen; or else you will fail, and ultimately perish."

The three Ed's gulped a little at his last statement.

"Now then…" Igor continued to say as the cards disappeared from the table, "The three of you will return here later on, where I will then explain more details about my services I can offer to you three on your journey."

"Okay!" Ed remarked with a nod of his head as he turned to Double D and Eddy, "Can we get going on our adventure now?!"

"Of course we can, Ed," Double D stated to him as Ed made a wide smile across his face.

* * *

**April 9th, 2011; Afternoon, Sunny**

Soon the three Ed's felt a familiar feeling coming back to them as they blacked out once again. They were now beginning to wake up from being in the Velvet Room; or, at least Double D was.

The first thing Double D could sense was how cold the new environment felt around him. Once he finally opened his eyes, he could see a really beige ceiling above him, along with beige walls on all sides of him. In the room, he could see a bed to his right with Ed lying in it, and two more beds across the room; one with Eddy in it and the other one empty. A lot of medical equipment was around them; and luckily, the Ed's were not hooked up to them.

'_We're in… a hospital?'_ Double D thought to himself as he then glanced out the window to his left, glancing at the scenery outside; it looked like they were about three stories up in this hospital.

Double D could see some pink petals scattered on the ground, along with some trees covered in the same pink petals off to the side of the hospital's entrance below him. There was a mountain-like landscape further off in the distance that he could see, along with some fields filled with strips of both water and land that was located across the street. The area seemed very rural by its appearance.

'_Cherry blossoms and rice fields…?'_ Double D continued to think to himself before realizing where they were, widening his eyes as he did, _'Wait, how can this be?! I thought we were in another dimension!'_

Meanwhile, back with Eddy, he was starting to wake up from his slumber, "Geez, I don't think I'll ever get use to traveling like this…"

It was while he was stirring around in the hospital bed that he noticed something seemed a bit… off. Wondering what it was, Eddy peeked underneath the covers and widened his eyes at a realization.

"W-What the heck?!" Eddy yelped aloud as he then leaped out of the hospital bed, "Double D, I'm taller!"

"Huh…?" Double D questioned aloud as he looked back to Eddy in confusion, and to his surprise, Eddy's statement looked to be true. He now looked older than he did before; like a teenager in high school.

Eddy then looked at Double D and widened his eyes once again, "You look older too, Double D!"

"What?!" Double D yelped in surprise as he looked down at himself; just like Eddy, he looked older as well, if not just a tad bit taller by an inch compared to Eddy, "… Fascinating…"

"Do you think Ed changed too?" Eddy asked.

"I would assume so," Double D replied with a nod of his head.

The two Ed's walked over to where Ed was laying down; he was snoring very loudly, as he usually does when he sleeps, "Ed, get your lazy bum up!" Eddy yelled to Ed as loud as he could in his ear.

Of course, this made Ed jolt right up with a little yelp, "Okay, baby sister Sarah!" he replied with a bit of a frantic tone to his voice before realizing it was only Eddy, "… Hey there Eddy, Double D!" he greeted with a classic, toothy grin as he started to get out of the bed, revealing that he, too, had grown just like them, "Are we on our adventure yet?!"

"Looks like it," Eddy replied back, "But why are here in a hospital? I thought we would be in some other strange place like last time. This place looks like our world."

"I thought so too," Double D started to explain, "But then I looked outside and saw what kind of place we were transported too; we're in Japan."

"Japan?!" Eddy and Ed yelped aloud, "You gotta be kidding me! That's just another country; not another dimension!" Eddy stated with a bit of disappointment in his voice.

Double D was about to reply when suddenly, the hospital door near them was slammed open, "What the hell's with this yelling?!" stated a voice from the now opened door, which scared the daylights out of the Ed's for a moment.

Soon two men come into the room; one was an older-looking man in his early forties[?] with his jacket sling over his shoulders and a cigarette hanging from his mouth, and another man in a denim blue suit that looked to be in his mid-twenties with messy, dark brown hair. They were both Japanese.

"You three do know you're in a hospital, right?" questioned the older man to them with furrowed eyebrows. Surprisingly to the Ed's, he was not speaking in Japanese. [*3]

"U-Umm, we're very sorry, sir," Double D started to say to them, "We didn't mean to yell, we were just… surprised by something."

"… I see," the older man said, "Well, it seems you all have good timing; we need to ask you three a few questions."

"Questions?" asked the three Ed's at once, getting nervous from the sudden tension in the room, "What kind of questions?" Eddy asked.

"We're police officers; for the Inaba Police Department," stated the younger man, "And we were called by a young woman who found you three by the riverbank, sleeping. She thought you've might have been hurt."

The older man nodded his head to his partner, "We just wanted to know why you three were like that."

"Well, uh…"

Ed spoked up before either Eddy or Double D could respond, "We're dimension traveling heroes who go on adventures and save the worlds we come to!"

"Ed!" Eddy yelped in surprise and anger before dragging him away by his jacket sleeve, "Don't say that to them, they're policemen! They would probably keep an eye on us, thinking that we're crazy!" Eddy whispered to him, much to the suspicious and confused looks of the two men.

"Ooo, I get it!" Ed replied with a nod of his head.

"You'll have to excuse my friend there, sir," Double D started to say to the two policemen, "He can get very imaginative and says weird things sometimes."

"I… see," the older man stated.

"But to answer your question; we just got to town, and decided to go see the riverbank first…" Double D started to explain to them, "I guess we must have fell asleep out there, it has been a rough day for us."

"Rough, you say? How so?"

"The three of us are high school transfer students," Double D explained, "But it seems we need to find a place to stay for the time being before we can go to school; it's a part of the oversea program in the US that we participated in. And we just happen to choose this town."

"Really?" the younger man questioned, "If I was in that kind of program, I would have picked a city like Tokyo or Kyoto; why did you pick Inaba?"

"The three of us are not too fond of big cities, sir," Double D replied, "We all decided it would be best to go to a high school in a more rural city; it would be less stressful for us and our studies."

'_Huh, I never knew Double D could be such a good liar,'_ Eddy thought.

"Hmm…" the older man muttered a little before sighing, "Fine, I'll take your word for it for now. You three seem like you're not here to cause trouble."

The three Ed's sighed a little in relief; they were in the clear, for now.

The older man turned to his partner, "Adachi."

"Yes, Dojima sir?" the younger man asked.

"Do you mind taking these kids to the bus stop so that they can go to the Amagi Inn?" the older man named Dojima asked his partner, Adachi, "I'm sure the manager can help these three find a temporary place until they can find another place of their own."

"O-Of course I can, sir!" Adachi replied with a nod of his head.

"Good," Dojima stated back as he looked down at his watch, "I better get home to Nanako, it's getting late."

Dojima then stated to leave the room, but then turned back around, "Ah, that's right," he then turned back to the Ed's, "The young lady that found you three is waiting for you downstairs in the lobby. She said she wanted to talk to you about something."

The three Ed's turned to look at each other in confusion, "T-Thank you… Mr. Dojima, was it not, sir?"

"Yeah, it's no problem," Dojima replied as he started to leave, "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

It was after Dojima left the room that Adachi turned to the Ed's, "Let's go to the lobby now."

"Okay," the three Ed's replied as the three of them followed Adachi out of the room.

* * *

It was a somewhere quiet and awkward for the party of four as they walked towards the hospital lobby, with a few snippets of quirky comments from Ed from time to time.

"So, fellows," Adachi to say, trying to strike up a conversation, "Where did you guys come from overseas?"

"We're from the U.S. of A!" Ed replied with a hint of pride.

"Interesting," Adachi stated, "And what was the reason for choosing this town for going to high school again?"

"It's like as we said before, sir," Double D explained, "We wanted to live here because we prefer a rural area instead of a city."

"Well, you're certainly going to get your wishes here, I know that for certain," Adachi stated with a small shake of his head in disbelief, "There's practically nothing to do here, except maybe a part-time job, for someone your ages…"

"It's just what we prefer, okay?" Eddy replied to him, trying to get him off the subject, "Everything is already set in stone for us now. Besides, we usually find things to do rather easily!"

"You got that right, Eddy!" Ed chimed in.

Double D sighed at the other two, "Yes, they usually find something to do, and drag me along into it."

Adachi stayed silent for a short moment before replying, "So, you three are actually trouble-makers."

The Ed's were silent to that for a short second before Double D replied, "N-No, it's certainly not like that at all!"

Adachi only laughed in response, "It's okay, I think you guys are what this town needs."

"… What do you mean by that?" Ed asked.

"This town needs a bit of excitement, or so I think," Adachi stated, "I think you three will certainly liven up the town, being that your transfer students and all."

"I see what you're saying, sir," Double D started to say, "Since it's a small town, that means word of us would travel around fast, right?"

"Yep, it will give something for the town to talk about. Well, besides that scandal that's been going on."

"Scandal?" Eddy questioned, "What kind of scandal?"

"What, haven't you three heard yet? It's been all over the regional news; it's practically all the town talks about now…" Adachi stated to say before trailing off and realizing, "Oh, we're at the lobby now."

The three Ed's and Adachi opened the double doors that led to the hospital lobby, only to see one person sitting there in the waiting room. It was a teenage girl that looked to be the same age as the Ed's current appearance. She had shoulder length, blond hair with some of it being tied back with a thin, long blue ribbon. She was wearing a white shirt that was underneath a blue denim jacket with medium-length sleeves that went to her elbows. She wore dark blue jeans with a pair of white tennis shoes. She was obviously not from around this area, just like the Ed's. The girl turned to them as they entered, revealing her bright, jade green eyes.

"You're all here!" The girl gasped as she stood up to come over to them, "Good, I was getting worried!"

"Uhh…" the three Ed's looked at each other in confusion, "You were worried about us?" Eddy asked, "Why?"

"I found you three lying by the riverbank after I, uh, arrived here from somewhere else," the girl started to explain before whispering to herself while looking down, "Just like those weird people told me…"

Double D was the one who heard the whisper, _'Weird people?'_ he thought to himself, _'I wonder if she means Igor and Margaret? But if that's the case…'_

"So, what's your name?" Ed asked, "Are you from Peach Creek too?"

Both Double D and Eddy looked at Ed with an odd look, "Ed, please…" Double D stated to say, "I highly doubt that-"

"You three are from Peach Creek?!" the girl started to ask in surprised, "There's a town named that near where I live, near Lemon Brook!"

"What?!" the three Ed's were caught off guard by what she said.

'_You gotta be kidding me! She's from Lemon Brook?!'_ Eddy thought with horror, _'That place is the worst! It's where he… My…'_ Eddy stopped his train of thought, _'No, I don't want to ever remember that day!'_ he then held his hand up to his forehead, like if he had a headache, _'Even if I can't remember half of what happened…'_ [*4]

"… Is something wrong with that?"

"Oh! No, not at all," Double D stated to say, "We were just surprised to see someone else from where we came from here, that's all."

"Yeah, I can see that…" the girl replied back before realizing, "Wait, I haven't even said my name yet, have I?"

"Nope," Ed stated, "That's why I asked!"

"Uh… Excuse me!" Adachi stated to say to the four teens, getting their attention, "We really need to get going now to the bus stop; the bus that goes to the Amagi Inn is about to make its round."

"Oh! We're sorry sir!" Double D started to apologize to him.

Adachi shook his head, "Apology accepted; but let's get going now."

The four shook their heads in agreement, "Right."

As they were walking towards the exit of the hospital, the girl turned towards the three Ed's with a small smile, "My name is Jade, by the way. Jade… Morimoto," she stated, saying her last name a bit quieter than the rest of her sentence, "It's really nice to meet you three…"

"Nice to meet you too Jade! We're the Ed's!" Ed started to explain as he picked up both Double D and Eddy with his arms suddenly, "This is Double D and Eddy; and I'm Ed!"

"Ed, put us down!" Eddy started to yell at him, almost ready to hit him, "We can walk just fine without you doing that, thanks!"

"Oh, sorry!" Ed apologized as he puts them down like a sack of potatoes, making them land on their butts.

Double D and Eddy quickly got back up, rubbing their butts because of the impact, "Oww, the pain…" Double D muttered to himself.

Jade only chuckled at them, _'Those three seem like great friends,'_ she thought to herself before making a bit of a sad face, _'I wish I had someone like that; to share memories with…'_

* * *

… Well, hello everyone! Guess what? I'm not dead! I never was going to stop writing this fanfic; but it really did take a long time for me to try and dedicate myself to type more and more every day… How long ago was the first chapter published? I don't even know… I guess I can say that the ideas for future chapters of this fanfic are fleshing out more and more in my head, so please tune in for more chapters; I don't know when they'll be done, but I'll try!

I'm still on YouTube, as I think I said last time; and "YukiMizuno90" is my channel name. That's pretty much been taking all of my time, along with talking to people on Twitter. If you haven't done so yet, please go check it out.

Also, I'm sure you also noticed that there are some numbers beside some paragraphs in the story. Well, those are notes that you'll see here at the bottom here. I just didn't feel like making notes besides the paragraph, so I'm putting them down here. Is that okay with you guys?

[*1]: The Velvet Room the Ed's are in is different from Minato (from Persona 3) and Yu's Velvet Rooms. The reason for that is because it's more like a personalized space for them only. The theme for it is that it's a Ferris wheel; like the one in Pokémon Black and White in Nimbasa City. The reason why the Velvet Room is a Ferris wheel is because it's symbolic to the Ed's and their crossover journey for this series in general; it's a never-ending cycle. Once they finish this story, they will go on another one, riding the cycle again. You see what I mean? I hope so…

[*2]: For those who have only played Persona 3 and 4 only, they will not know who Master Philemon is. In the first Persona game, he's basically the person who gives the protagonists their Personas, and is considered Igor's master. I'm not sure if he's in the duology of Persona 2 or not… In Persona 4, I think the blue butterfly save points is actually some form of Master Philemon, since that's what he represents… I think. It's been a while since I've touched the first game, my memory might be rusty. And I'm too lazy to try and look it up, so… Let's just leave it at that.

[*3]: I decided to not use any type of Japanese translations in this story besides just the names themselves. The reason they're speaking English and not Japanese is, well, they're in an alternate universe of Japan, so I'm making them speak English because the Ed's speak English... Does that make more sense? Plus it's easier for me to jot and write down if I'm not worried about the Japanese honorary-type of speaking, so you won't be seeing any kind of lines like "Yu-senpai" or anything like that. Hope you guys understand. Besides, just because the game does it doesn't mean that's how I should write it.

[*4]: The moment Eddy is thinking about is not the Big Picture Show, but of something else that's not ever in the show… But like hell if I'm going to just tell you what he wants to partially forget! Let's just say I needed to think up of something for him too… Well, you know how Persona 4 goes, right? I'll just leave it at that.

By the way, about Jade… She's an OC for this story; she's not related to the Persona series at all. I thought it would be interesting to add someone else into the story besides the Ed's, so that's why she's here. Oh, and I'm not going to be doing this story day-by-day like the game itself. That would be impossible for my sanity to write out a chapter for everyday of Persona 4… I'm only going to write out story moments and certain days of my choosing.

Anyway, enough of this fanfic outro, I'm going to go to bed now… Bye guys. XD


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